Confidence is Overrated
by halfpipez
Summary: Before the tag-team match that will decide whether Syrus and Jaden stay at the Duel Academy, Syrus' nerves are getting to him. He has been rearranging his deck for hours, and it's only when he gets a surprise visitor that he finally gains confidence again


It wasn't fair. Everyone Syrus knew could walk down the halls of the Academia with confidence in their dueling skills. Even the new Slifer's could, though they were bottom-rung duelists according to the Academia's test standards. The only person Syrus knew who couldn't hold their head up high in pride of their dueling skills was, well, himself.

Syrus sighed as he glanced over all his cards, which were spread over his bed. He was attempting to reconstruct his deck in order to help Jaden with their tag team match against the surprise tag team Crowler had set up. It was tough, as all of his cards were completely different from Jaden's, so any possibility of combining their cards was turned into an impossibility. He grimaced as he picked up one of the piles, shuffling through it. There wasn't much that was usable in terms of teaming up, but he could still help. He just had to make the best deck he could and hope for that the worst didn't come to pass.

Every so often, Syrus would check the card database he had on his computer to make sure he had some chain strategies up his sleeve incase he got the chance to use one. There were a couple he knew were plausible and others that involved more complicated moves to be placed. He found that planning his strategies out was dulling the jittery nervousness he had before, and it was certainly a good thing. He didn't want to freeze up in front of the school, and he definitely didn't want to embarrass Jaden. Syrus wanted to do his best.

"This is no good…" Syrus sighed, backing up to sit on the desk chair. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and looked at all the cards on his bed. His blue hair shaded over his eyes and he held in what would have been a shaky breath. He couldn't help himself.

Who could feel confident when they were a Slifer with a famous, Obelisk-level, older brother?

"Hey, what's up Sy?" Jaden opened the door to their dorm, forcing Syrus to look up. "I can't wait until our tag team duel! I sure hope we win… the stakes are a bit high but dangerous is how I like it!"

"Um… Yeah!" Syrus faked enthusiasm and gave his friend a weak smile, turning back to the cards in his hand.

"Hmm?" Jaden put his hands behind his head and walked behind Syrus to peer over him curiously. "Hey! Good strategy!" he commented, grinning. He hit Syrus playfully. "You have nothing to worry about. Our opponents got nothing on us! We're gonna blow them outta the water, right?"

"Mhmm…" Syrus agreed, his enthusiasm fading by the second.

He honestly didn't know how any of the students at the Academia could have such confidence in their skills – especially Jaden. However, he was a good duelist with a match record to prove it, so Syrus didn't question him. Just because Syrus was a Slifer did not by any means make him a horrible duelist. Jaden had proved that red was the best colour when it came to their uniforms – which made the students and teachers alike rather judgmental when it came to the colour ranks. Even Bastion was looking forward to battling Jaden.

Jaden Yuki, the Slifer enigma. Why couldn't Syrus be more like him? It was hard enough to be the younger brother of the Kaiser, but to be best friends with the most talented Slifer? It did nothing to boost his confidence at all. Syrus had hoped many times that the talent and carefree winning attitude would rub off on him, but to no avail. He was still the shy and soft spoken Syrus that everyone already knew.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Jaden asked, putting his hand on his shoulder awkwardly. He sat himself on top of the desk behind him and twisted the chair around so Syrus was facing him. "You nervous?"

Syrus couldn't look at him, so instead he kept staring at the cards in his hands. He felt his face heating up in embarrassment, but his hair shaded it over so Jaden couldn't tell.

"A bit, I guess." Syrus mumbled.

"Seems like it's more than just a bit!" Jaden commented. "Anything I can do to help?"

_There he goes again…_ Syrus thought, toying with the Dromeroid in his hand. Jaden was always trying to help in any way he could, and now he was listing off all the ways he could think of that could possibly help. None of the suggestions stuck out to Syrus, but at least he was making an effort.

"Um… Jaden?" Syrus interrupted. "I'm just not feeling too well I guess…" he explained lamely, knowing full well that it was probably really obvious he was lying.

Jaden rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, seeing right through him. "Okay then!" He chuckled. "I'll just leave you to it! Alexis said she wanted to meet me later so I'm just gonna go then…"

Syrus barely nodded, swinging his chair back around to stare idly at his bed again. He was getting nowhere with the 'feel-sorry-for-myself' act he seemed to be putting up. Even at the entrance exams, he had been thoroughly surprised that he passed, considering his poor performance in the written test. When Jaden had waltzed in, he had the air of a champion even though he hadn't won anything yet. Jaden even mentioned that Bastion was good enough to be second, next to himself of course.

Unfortunately, it was the complete opposite for Syrus. He heard the door close from somewhere beside him and sighed once more.

Sometimes he just wished that his confidence hadn't been destroyed by the people he knew – even if they did it unintentionally. Jaden and Zane were at the top of his list.

Syrus slowly got up from him chair and placed the cards back down on the bed. The least he could do is get a bit of fresh air. When he opened the door, instead of seeing the porch of the dorm and the expanse of grass beyond it, he saw blue.

"Chazz?" Syrus asked, surprised. He hurried to close the door again but the other boy stuck his foot in the way.

"Ugh, thank God I have metal-toed shoes, or that would've hurt…" Chazz muttered as he kicked the door back open. He looked over to Syrus, who was still in shock. "I can't believe I resorted coming here just to ask this…" He scowled. "Where's Jaden?"

"Um… he went out!" Syrus' voice wavered. "I'm not really sure where he is!"

"You sure about that?" To Syrus, Chazz looked rather menacing at that moment.

"Uh… um… yeah?" Syrus didn't mean for it to have a nervous inflection, but it did. Now Chazz would surely never believe him.

"Ugh… you mean I just wasted my time, runt?"

"Yes?"

"Fine… I'm just gonna leave then. Just tell him he better be glad that you guys aren't facing me in the tag-team duel. I would've whooped your butts if I was," Chazz said, shoving his hands in his pockets and showing himself to the door again.

"What? You mean Crowler didn't pick you?" Syrus asked, shocked once again.

"No… instead he picked two morons who don't know what they're doing. I'm not allowed to tell you guys though." Chazz smirked. "I hope you guys beat them. Otherwise, I'll never get a rematch."

"Um… sure we will!" Syrus said, attempting bravado.

"You will," Chazz reiterated for him. "And you'll completely blow them out of the water. If you don't, then there'll be no point in having a rematch with Jaden. You'll beat them, easy."

"I hope so…" Syrus mumbled.

"You better, otherwise you'll just be a disappointment – all my wasted competition on you two for nothing." Chazz slammed the door behind him.

The sound reverberated through the room and Syrus nodded, suddenly determined. He didn't need to prove himself to his brother, and he definitely didn't need to prove himself to his best friend. He just had to show Chazz that he was worth his time. Syrus needed someone new to prove something to, and not the same people that already knew his moves inside and out. Chazz was his door to success, and he was going to defeat whoever came their way just to get to him.

As unorthodox as Chazz's pep talk might have been, it had worked. Syrus immediately turned back to his cards with renewed determination and a hundred strategies came to mind.

"Thanks Chazz…" he murmured as he picked up a handful of cards.

Nobody was going to take him or Jaden down. They were here to stay.


End file.
